The 140 year old Andrew Road railway bridge is much wider than it looks

Andrew Road, Cogan has been partially closed to traffic today to allow a railway bridge safety-inspection to be carried out.

It’s still possible to drive to – and park at – Penarth Leisure Centre and Cogan Station – but the remainder of the road is closed to vehicles – although it is still open to pedestrians.

A series of iron girders support the track bed above – most of the ironwork is encased in original vaulted Victorian brickwork

Contractors working for Network Rail are carrying out a periodic routine inspection of the Victorian railway bridge.

The bridge is 140 years old and carries two rail tracks which cross over Andrew Road diagonally – and therefore require a much wider bridge structure than would otherwise be the case .

Most – perhaps all – of the bridge’s iron girders are the original ones. Apart from the two outer girders, the remainder of the girders spanning the road are encased in a series of vaulted Victorian brick arches and can’t be easily checked.

A brick has been removed to expose the ironwork beneath. About a ten similar inspection points will be examined

The only way of testing the safety of the structure is to remove several sample bricks at set points so as to examine the iron which lies within the brickwork .

The work is expected to take the remainder of the day

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Penarth Daily News is an independent free on-line fair and balanced news service published by NewsNet Ltd covering the town of Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, UK.
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Could someone do an “inspection” or “investigation” of what the f*@k has happened to the tree on Baron Road, near the junction of Cornerswell Road?
This lovely tree with pink blossom has been savagely cut back. This is NOT a professional “pollard” – so I doubt (for once) the council is behind it – but a brutal hacking.
What the hell sort of town is this where people can just saw trees down on the street?
What is the matter with people?
Ignorant tw@ts.

Network Rail have 40,000+ bridges, tunnels etc. Many of these structures are 120+ years old, which is the current design life expectancy of concrete bridges. The size of the task undertaken just to inspect all these structures, even if only once every fews years, is immense. The Andrew Road rail over bridge demonstrates one of the difficulties. The main structural elements are the iron girders most parts of which aren’t even visible, fortunately iron does not rust at the same rate as modern much stronger steels. The bricks form “flat” or “jack” arches which both laterally transmit the load to the girders but also provide important lateral restraint. The main danger for the bricks is the incorrect use of modern stiff cements in repairs.